Rivaldo Named President Of Arvest In Benton County

Rivaldo Named President Of Arvest In Benton County

TIMES RECORD FILE PHOTO / Craig Rivaldo, left, president of the Fort Smith, River Valley region of Arvest and Rick Foti, executive director of the Community Services Clearinghouse, at Arvest bank's tower location in Fort Smith during the kick-off of the 1 Million Meals initiative, Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2012. Rivaldo has been named president of Arvest Bank of Benton County.

Rivaldo Named President Of Arvest In Benton County

Times Record Staff

Arvest Bank announced Tuesday that Craig Rivaldo, president and CEO of Arvest Bank of Fort Smith, has been named the president and CEO of Arvest Bank of Benton County effective May 1.

Rivaldo began his career with Arvest as a trainee with McIlory Bank in Fayetteville, now Arvest Bank, in 1987. In 1999, he was one of the original associates who started Arvest’s Fort Smith operations, according to an Arvest news release. In 2010, he was named president and CEO in Fort Smith, which is one of Arvest’s top-performing banks in recent years, the release states.

“I am very excited and humbled to be given the opportunity to join an incredibly strong team in Benton County,” Rivaldo stated in the release. “It is truly an honor to join the bank where this company was founded and to have the chance to serve these great communities and customers.”

A search for a new president in Fort Smith will begin immediately and an announcement will be made when a replacement is selected, the release states.

Arvest Bank of Benton County is the largest of Arvest’s 16 locally managed banks and has 28 locations in 13 communities and more than 400 employees.

“Craig Rivaldo is an excellent banker and an outstanding individual who embodies the qualities that we seek as a company. His career with Arvest spans more than 27 years and, in that time, he has proven himself to be an effective leader, a trusted decision-maker, and someone who cares deeply about the communities he serves,” stated Scott Grigsby, a regional executive of Arvest Bank and interim president and CEO in Benton County.

According to Arkansas Business, Smiley had worked for the company since 1989, was CEO of Arvest in Springdale for about 11 years and was the top executive for the Benton County operations for almost two years.

Arvest Bank operates more than 260 bank branches in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas through a network of 16 locally managed banks, each with its own board and management team. These banks serve customers in more than 120 communities with 12-hour weekday banking at most locations.

Rivaldo is a graduate of Northside High School in Fort Smith, Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, Southwestern Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University and the National Commercial Lending School at the University of Oklahoma. He and his wife Mary Jo have one son, Connor.